The life of a Christian is the most difficult life anyone can live, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Cor. 15:19) We are on a fool’s errand if He is not risen, we have wasted the entirety of our lives upon a false idea, upon fables and stories with no substance. This is why it is imperative that you are able to show the truth of your faith outside of your emotions, why it is so important that you can look back on your life since the day that the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you, to be able to say, “it was only by the power of God Almighty that I am who I am now.”
They used to call it “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps,” “getting your act together,” “sowing your wild oats,” if you cannot tell the difference between who you are now and who you were before Him, then you will need to re-evaluate your supposed decision. But how can we know for a fact that we have been saved by grace through faith, (Eph. 2:8) how can you tell if you are truly a child of God or just a nicer person than you used to be of your own accord. Miracles happen in the lives of born-again believers, actions that could in no way be mistaken for anything else but the hand of Almighty God.
There is a power within each believer that is incomprehensible to the lost world out there, it will do all that it can to denounce it, from the aforementioned statements they will offer, to scientific explanations, the hand of God is never clear to the lost, in the life they love, He does not hold any relative meaning, for they do not love Him. And there my friends, is your answer, not a life no longer in bondage to the sin of drugs and drink, no longer hours spent in front of a screen filled with pornography, not a happier, cheerful more giving life, but a life of love. It was grace that saved us, we love Him because He first loved us, and the proof of that salvation is love.
You cannot help but notice someone who loves others, and we are in no wise speaking of an emotional state here, for although that is a part of love, it is by far not the revealing fact of it, love is an action, the action of forgiveness, of words with weight, of deeds done not for reward, not even for the benefit of the receiver, but the action of love because of Him who first loved us. This love is not common to man, not even Adam knew this love, those in the Old Testament desired it greatly, and some for a time were indeed filled with the Holy Spirit, but it is the church, it is the bride of Christ that has been set apart from all the rest of creation, only we have His Spirit within us, we are sanctified to the Lord Jesus Christ. An honor and a privilege do not even begin to describe this wisdom, this knowledge, this great eternal gift.
It is by our love that we are known, the old man is dying within us, we no longer desire those things we once craved after, the world itself holds little meaning to us, that is how they will know us, we are no longer like them for we understand now just what love truly is. All who come to Him in reverence and fear will be welcomed, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) And you will be able to tell who they are, they are the only ones who truly understand what love is, and the only One worthy of that love for not only the rest of their lives, but well beyond that time.
